I’ve been waiting for a rainy day to write the next KW blog, they have been few and very far between but today, 14th November is entirely a different matter, it’s lashing it down and looks set for the day. So this is probably the best thing to talk about and as rainfall and weather are an ingrained farmer discussion topic, what better subject!
There is no denying that the weather for most of 2025 has been different to the usual fare of a maritime climate. We started the year having had an above average rainfall for 2024 (673 mm – 602 mm average 1991-2020) Ditches running, brooks flowing with purpose and “most” ponds full to capacity. Looking at the recorded data, January and February were slightly below average, winter months are not generally high rainfall periods, cold air holds less moisture. There are exceptions when Atlantic storms come bowling in. March however was completely bonkers, only 2 mm of rain recorded in this location and masses of sunshine. My daily diary entries started March with “glorious day” and ended “another sunny day, warmer” and this was the trend for the remainder of the year up until today with the exception of July where a most welcome 66 mm was recorded (July Av 55 mm – rainfall data from the Met Office rain gauge at Monks Wood which is the nearest official rain gauge) So this all adds up to a staggering figure of just 47% of our normal yearly average rainfall amount to date.
If it hasn’t been raining its usually overcast, but no, wall to wall sunshine. Its more difficult to quantify sunshine data locally as I don’t have a fancy Campbell – Stokes sunshine recorder. However there are many sources for weather records most notably the Met Office.
How has this affected the KW? Not a lot would be a simple and honest answer. If we had planted this year instead of 2024 it might well be a very different story. One of woe and wasted effort perhaps. Coming out of a high rainfall year the tree roots got themselves growing and locked into the soil particles. The biggest problem was the intense sunshine making the new leaves transpire rapidly especially in the wrap around tubes. The thinking here was that leaf diseases would become an issue so the answer was to lift the tubes on the most affected trees. I did have to spend a week mulching the trees to try and mitigate moisture loss. Overall the outcome is mostly positive with some “tree-mendous” growth by most of the planted species.
A walk through at the end of July counting dead trees and shrubs put the overall loss at around 8% this includes 1st year losses and over winter loss caused by rodent damage to the area known as the root-stem junction. Lost quite a few oaks in late summer 2024 to what visibly looked like powdery mildew but transitioned into a virus and stopped the young oak trees from growing.
We are obliged to keep the planting density high for the early years so replacement trees have been ordered for a December planting along with lifting some sapling oaks, field maple and wild service trees from the Jubilee Wood to transplant in the KW
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